Atomic : The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-49

Baggott, Jim

ISBN 10: 1848310447 / ISBN 13: 9781848310445

Edité par Icon Books, Limited, 2009

A propos de cet article

Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages.

N° de réf. du vendeur 8953591-6

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Atomic : The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb 1939-49
• Éditeur: Icon Books, Limited
• Date de parution: 2009
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1848310447
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781848310445
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• État de l'article: Good

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Rich in personality, action, confrontation and deception, "Atomic" is the first fully realised popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's FarmHall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a monumental book that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1', August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test.Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the Soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the Allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb programme? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? "Atomic" is an epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding; a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact.

À propos de l?auteur

Jim Baggott is an award-winning science writer. A former academic chemist,he runs an independent management consultancy practice but maintains a broad interest in science, philosophy and history and continues to write on these subjects in his spare time, for, amongother publications, New Scientist magazine. His previous bookshave been widely acclaimed and include A Beginner's Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005) and Beyond Measure: Modern Physics,Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2004).